Jim Breech calls it "Divine Providence," and the 52,157 who witness it on the riverfront can only agree after a 20-17 numbing overtime victory over the Super Bowl champion Redskins fittingly ends this Ripley's Believe It Or Not 1988 regular season with more improbable drama and home-field advantage.
This is the season of Ickey, Boomer, Fulcher and the Jim Borgman cartoon of the huge Bengal tiger with its tail wrapped around Riverfront Stadium hissing, "Next."
But on Dec. 17, 1988, the Bengals find themselves five seconds and 29 yards away from losing their first home game of the season, the AFC Central title, a bye in the NFL playoffs and home field as Washington's Chip Lohmiller lines up a 29-yard field goal with five seconds left.